My Portable Ming Dynasty

Chapter 300: The Worst Soldier I've ever led

Prussian blue was the earliest synthetic dye ever created by humankind.

Ox blood is not difficult to obtain in the capital city these days.

In the early Ming Dynasty, the imperial court strictly prohibited the slaughter of cattle; only old or sick cattle could be slaughtered.

However, just like all prohibitions, they would be relaxed over time. By the Longqing and Wanli periods, the prohibitions from the early Ming Dynasty had been almost completely relaxed.

Many restaurants in the capital city sell beef under the names "Lao Niu" or "Bian Niu".

Ferric chloride is not difficult to obtain. The soy sauce workshop in the Eastern Palace needs alum oil (hydrochloric acid). Ferric chloride can be obtained by reacting iron slag from the ironworks with alum oil.

Su Ze copied down the formula for the dye and wrote letters to the soy sauce workshop in the Eastern Palace and the ironworks outside the city. He said that he only needed to experiment a few times to obtain the Prussian blue dye.

Su Ze had even figured out the sales channels.

In recent days, the Ministry of War has made uniforms for all military academy students.

However, due to the dye, the dyed clothes are not bright and fade easily. Now, the clothes of the martial arts students are all of different shades and are very ugly.

Just then, Su Ze had planned to invite the emperor to the Military Academy at the end of the year to inspect the training results of the academy.

Wouldn't it look terrible if everyone wore military uniforms of different colors?

Seeing the imperial military academy students dressed in Prussian blue uniforms, marching in perfect formation, would surely motivate the emperor to allocate more funds to the construction of the academy!
Then this isn't Prussian blue, it's Ming blue!

With this in mind, Su Ze decided to borrow the laboratory from the East Palace to try and produce Prussian blue dye as soon as possible.
-
Martial arts supervisor.

"Class monitor, is it another large-scale training session today?"

On the drill ground, the martial arts students of the cavalry platoon gathered around Li Rusong.

Two groups were clearly separated on the training ground.

The cavalry squad, led by Zhu Shikun, the younger brother of the Duke of Cheng, gathered on the other side of the training ground.

Li Rusong cracked his riding whip and said:

"The cavalry training is a rule set by the Dean of Studies and is also part of the major training program. If you have any objections, go talk to Instructor Ma."

All the students of the Martial Arts Academy lowered their heads.

Since the last live-fire exercise where Instructor Ma and his team won against overwhelming odds, these arrogant sons of military families have all toned down their tempers.

As the atmosphere within the Military Academy improved, a new kind of competition emerged.

They strive to be the best in dormitory cleanliness and hygiene, and in classroom performance. Even in this joint training, the two cavalry squads compete to outdo each other.

Strangely, once this competition extended to the cavalry and infantry, the first and second cavalry squads would unite as one and fight against external forces.

In Li Rusong's words, "Normally, the cavalry division fights for the right to make decisions within the cavalry division. But if they lose to the infantry division, they lose face for all the cavalry!"

Even Instructor Ma couldn't understand why Su Ze could bring about such a big change in these trainees.

The military is such a place.

The best way to build cohesion and fighting capacity among officers is to form a community.

This is why, after the emergence of the modern military academy system, it was able to quickly overwhelm other military systems and immediately become the first step for all countries to reform and strengthen themselves.

From dormitories to classrooms, and from classrooms to grades, once communities are formed from small to large, a sense of honor will spontaneously arise.

At this point, losing the competition is no longer a matter of personal honor, but rather the honor of the entire community.

Su Ze also spoke with Instructor Ma of the Martial Arts Institute, telling them not to suppress this sense of community honor, but to award prizes based on collective honor and to give certain privileges to the groups that receive the honor.

For example, in the two cavalry squads, the squad that performs well in drills every ten days can have their meals earlier.

For example, dormitories with excellent housekeeping can have the dormitories with the worst housekeeping do their chores.

The formation of this community also made the relationships between the students of Wu Jiansheng even closer.

This is also why modern officer corps are far superior to those of the feudal era. An officer corps that shares common aspirations and ideals and has lived together will definitely cooperate much better on the battlefield than officers of the previous era.

A well-informed military student from the second cavalry platoon suddenly said:
"I heard it's horse stance training again today."

Upon hearing this, everyone's expressions turned grim.

Just like infantry, cavalry also need to follow footwork.

French cavalry infantry was unparalleled in Europe, and before the advent of motorized forces, the French cavalry was the dominant force in continental Europe.

The cavalry's footwork is more difficult than that of the infantry because the cavalry also has to control their warhorses.

The first step is the formation.

Cavalry must maintain sufficient spacing so that they do not huddle together during a charge.

The distance between cavalrymen is calculated, and the number of cavalrymen a junior cavalry commander can lead is determined. The length of each cavalry square is calculated based on this information, as well as the distance between friendly and enemy forces.

In modern warfare, officers need to constantly calculate distance and speed on the battlefield, while cavalry officers need to determine the timing of a charge in a very short time.

Once the formation is complete, it's time for footwork.

The "Cavalry Drill Manual" discussed by Su Ze and Qi Jiguang mainly divides cavalry footwork into three types: slow walk, fast walk, and running, with speeds of 100, 240, and 300 meters per minute, respectively.

To make a horse run at different speeds, you need to train its stance and make it run at different rhythms.

After completing these courses, Li Rusong finally understood what a real cavalryman was like.

Thinking back to when he first entered school, he boasted about his superb horsemanship and how he had followed his father in hunting down Jurchens since he was a child, Li Rusong now felt ashamed.

I had no equestrian skills whatsoever before; I just rode around aimlessly!
After this period of training, Li Rusong was finally able to use the three footwork techniques proficiently.

Li Rusong's equestrian skills improved rapidly, but the sons of soldiers in Cavalry Platoon 2 were not as good as the sons of noble families in Cavalry Platoon 1 in equestrianism.

There was no other way; many military garrisons in the Ming Dynasty were very poor, and warhorses were a precious commodity in those garrisons.

This is also why the children of soldiers in Cavalry Platoon 2 dislike equestrian training, and they'll be ridiculed by the guys in Platoon 1 again.

Just then, Instructor Ma arrived at the training ground.

"Today's training is on switching footwork!"

Upon hearing about the step-changing training, even Li Rusong's expression changed slightly.

Mastering just three horsemanship techniques is not difficult, but switching gaits while marching is extremely challenging.

However, in actual combat, it is necessary to frequently switch footwork techniques.

Both brisk walking and running consume a significant amount of energy, with the latter two being particularly taxing.

A brisk walk lasting more than half an hour or a canter lasting more than 6 minutes will make a horse quite tired.

For long marches, cavalry can only proceed at a slow pace.

However, when cavalry charges into cavalry, the side that can maintain a better formation and achieve greater speed will surely win. To achieve both good formation and speed while maintaining horsepower, there is only one solution: approach the enemy at a low speed, switch to high speed in the last few hundred or even a hundred meters, and only reach full speed when there are still tens or even a dozen meters left before engaging the enemy.

It sounds easy, but to accomplish this collectively, switching footwork during a charge requires a great deal of training.

After the two cavalry squads lined up in formation, Instructor Ma shouted:

"Dean Su is preparing to submit a memorial requesting His Majesty to visit the Military Academy before the end of the year to observe the grand military exercise!"

Upon hearing this, everyone cheered.

The Emperor of the Ming Dynasty is going to visit the Military Supervisory Bureau. To be able to perform in front of the Emperor is an opportunity that many people would rather die for!
Dean Su is indeed a man of his word!
The martial arts students were determined to train hard! They couldn't let Dean Su lose face in front of His Majesty!
Instructor Ma then said:

"Today's drill is a change of footwork. The poor class will have to clean the stables for the good class for ten days."

Upon hearing this, the members of Cavalry Platoon 2 all wore mournful expressions.

Taking care of stables was a regular subject of study in the cavalry department, and looking after warhorses was a basic requirement for a cavalry officer.

But cleaning the stables was a tough job, and having to clean for other classes was a humiliation.

Zhu Shikun glanced at Li Rusong and made a victory sign.

Li Rusong ignored him and instead scolded his classmates, ordering them to prepare to form ranks.

The final result was not surprising; the cavalry squad, with their superior equestrian skills, emerged victorious.

However, they barely managed to complete the march, and by the time they reached the finish line, their formation was in complete disarray.

However, at least the first cavalry squad reached the finish line, while the second cavalry squad broke up halfway through the march. Only a few martial arts students with excellent horsemanship, such as Li Rusong, reached the finish line.

"You guys are the worst soldiers I've ever led!"

Although Instructor Ma said that, what he actually thought was:
"He has never led such good soldiers before!"

There are many famous cavalry units in history. From the Northern and Southern Dynasties to the early Tang Dynasty, cavalry was the main force, giving rise to countless cavalry battles that have been admired by later generations.

However, since ancient times, cavalry has been regarded as a type of soldier with exceptional talent.

The so-called "talented soldiers" are those with exceptional archery skills, who can become the best cavalry.

Therefore, even in the Tang Dynasty, many of the famous cavalry units were border troops, and these border areas were semi-agricultural and semi-pastoral regions. Many of the cavalrymen recruited were naturalized non-Han people.

By the Song Dynasty, having lost control of the northern nomadic regions, they were no longer able to organize a powerful cavalry force.

Instructor Ma originally thought the same thing.

How could the Han Chinese in the mainland compare to the Hu people who had been riding horses since childhood?

However, the progress of the cavalry department completely changed his mind.

Horsemanship is not a talent, but a skill that can be broken down and trained.

If trained according to the manual, even a Han Chinese soldier whose horsemanship is not particularly good can master three different horse stances in six months.

Instructor Ma believed that even the worst martial arts student would be able to master the horse stance in three months.

Two years later, Instructor Ma believed that his students, when charging in formation, would be even stronger than the most elite border troops of the Ming Dynasty!

This is not just a matter of a single elite cavalry unit, but rather that a large number of elite cavalry units can be trained, and that Han Chinese, under training, can be just as capable as the nomadic tribes.

No, Han Chinese cavalry trained according to the Cavalry Manual are more disciplined than steppe cavalry, and they would definitely be able to defeat the steppe cavalry in a head-on confrontation!

Of course, the instructors were all sharp-tongued. In the end, Instructor Ma announced that the second cavalry squad would have to clean the stables for the first squad for ten days before disbanding them.

The dejected students of Class Two gathered around Li Rusong.

"Class monitor, it was us who held us back."

The students who hadn't finished the march were dejected.

But this time, Li Rusong did not reprimand them; instead, he said:

"Don't be discouraged, everyone. This loss is not a loss. Didn't the instructor say that His Majesty will participate in the Martial Arts Academy at the end of the year? That will be the real competition!"

The crowd was still somewhat discouraged. At this moment, Li Rusong stood up and said:
"You're afraid to compete already? You're going to clean the stables for the rest of your lives!?"

Everyone lowered their heads, and Li Rusong then spoke:
"Cleaning the stables is the time for training. Starting today, those who have completed the march will follow me to clean the stables. You will practice your riding skills while cleaning the stables!"

"I'll clean the stables for you guys for ten days. If you can't finish, you might as well drop out of school and go back to cleaning the stables properly!"
-
Shen Shixing's wife's family indeed had a lot of connections in the textile industry. After Zhao Lingxian expressed her desire to open a dye house, the Wu family quickly took over a dye house in the capital.

Suze quickly produced Prussian blue dye in the laboratory.

Sure enough, when a piece of Prussian blue dyed cloth was made, everyone who saw it exclaimed in amazement.

Traditional plant dyes have been unable to produce vibrant colors.

Even the finest silk would hardly produce a dress as magnificent as the one in the original timeline TV series.

The reason why Prussian blue was able to quickly become popular and become the theme color of an era in the original timeline was because the vibrancy of chemical dyes far exceeded that of plant dyes.

This newly dyed fabric has such a bright blue color that it won't fade even after multiple washes.

Upon seeing the fabric, Shen Shixing's brother-in-law, Wu Youning, immediately decided to acquire three more dye houses to fully dedicate himself to dyeing this blue fabric.

These dye houses were owned equally by the Su family and the Shen family. The Shen family was responsible for the affairs of the dye houses and the management of the dyeing and printing workers, while the Su family provided the dyes.

Su Ze naturally had no objection to this; the process of making Prussian blue was not complicated, and the most important thing was to keep it secret.

But this is actually quite simple. Su Ze only needs to place the different reactions in different places, let the workers perform only a part of the reaction operation, and add some ineffective reactants to confuse the situation, so that he can monopolize the formula for a long time.

Zhao Lingxian was eager to get started with the dyeing business, and Su Ze was happy to let her handle it.

The Shuntian Prefecture also quickly concluded the case.

The evidence against Zhao Zhuangtou for misappropriating the estate property was conclusive, and most of the villagers confessed as soon as he was imprisoned.

What shocked Zhao Lingxian even more was that this seemingly honest and simple village head, Zhao Zhuangtou, had a murder case on his hands.

Su Ze simply told the messenger from Shuntian Prefecture, "Act according to the law," and believed that Shuntian Prefecture would soon deliver a verdict.

This further solidified Zhao Lingxian's idea of ​​selling the estate, and she and Shen Shixing's wife, Wu, devoted more energy to the affairs of the dye house.

Before he knew it, it was the end of November. He had just finished dealing with the household chores when Su Ze stepped into the East Palace and heard Xiao Pang Jun calling out.

Su Ze reluctantly stepped into Minglun Hall, and Little Fatty Jun immediately came over and said:

"Master Su! You have to help me this time!"

"What is the matter, Your Highness?"

"Father wants to go and see the martial arts competition, but he's not taking me with him!"

(End of this chapter)